Tableau Prep Help

Step 1 (Existing Install): Enable Tableau Prep Conductor

Version: Current

This topic describes how to enable Tableau Prep conductor on your existing installation of Tableau Server.

Tableau Prep Conductor is supported only on Tableau Server versions 2019.1 or later. If you are using Tableau Server 2018.3 or earlier, you must first upgrade your Tableau Server to 2019.1 before enabling Tableau Prep Conductor on your Tableau Server installation.

Tableau Prep Conductor is licensed through the Data Management Add-on, on a per Deployment basis, which is User-Based or Core-Based. A Deployment includes a licensed production Tableau Server installation and licensed non-production Tableau Server installations that support the production installation. For more information on Deployment, see the EULA Documentation.

This topic describes how to enable Tableau Prep conductor on your existing installation of Tableau Server.

After completing the installation, add the Data Management product key to enable Tableau Prep Conductor on your node. The Data Management product key, like your other server keys, are available through the Customer Portal.

On the Register page, enter your information into the fields and click Register.

You will be prompted to restart the server. Restart the server and verify that Tableau Prep Conductor is enabled and running.

In the Tableau Services Manager web interface, click the Status tab to see the status. If Tableau Prep Conductor is enabled and running, you should see Tableau Prep Conductor in the list of processes as Active. If Tableau Prep Conductor is not enabled, you will see Tableau Prep Conductor in the list of processes, but with no status information.

Tableau Prep Conductor not enabled:

Tableau Prep Conductor enabled and running:

Add a second node to your Tableau Server installation. The installer will enable certain required processes like the Cluster Controller. Enable Backgrounder process on it as it is required to run scheduled flow tasks. When you enable the Backgrounder process, the installer automatically enables a single instance of Data Engine and Tableau Prep Conductor on the node. Do not add any other processes on this node.

Run the following commands to dedicate this node to do only flow tasks. For more information on node roles, see Node Roles in Tableau Server.

Get the nodeID for your dedicated node to see the list of services on each node:

tsm topology list-nodes -v.

Set the node role for the dedicated node using the nodeID that you got from running the command described above:

tsm topology set-node-role -n <nodeID> -r flows.

Apply the changes, and restart the server:

tsm pending-changes apply.

Review the status to ensure that all the processes are up and running and configured correctly:

After completing the installation, add the Data Management product key to enable Tableau Prep Conductor. Tableau Prep Conductor is automatically enabled on the nodes where you already have the Backgrounder process enabled. The Data Management product key, like your other server keys, are available through the Customer Portal.

On the Register page, enter your information into the fields and click Register.

You will be prompted to restart the server. Restart the server and verify that Tableau Prep Conductor is enabled and is running.

In the Tableau Services Manager web interface, click the Status tab to see the status of all the processes. If Tableau Prep Conductor is enabled and running, you should see Tableau Prep Conductor in the list of processes as Active. If Tableau Prep Conductor is not enabled, you will see Tableau Prep Conductor in the list of processes, but with no status information.

Tableau Prep Conductor not enabled:

Tableau Prep Conductor enabled and running:

Add a new node to your Tableau Server installation. The installer will enable certain required processes like the Cluster Controller. Enable Backgrounder process on it as it is required to run scheduled flow tasks. When you enable the Backgrounder process, the installer automatically enables a single instance of Data Engine and Tableau Prep Conductor on the node. Do not add any other processes on this node.

Note: The dedicated note counts towards to total count of the Coordination Service ensemble. You may need to deploy a Coordination Service on the new node depending on the total number of nodes you have in your cluster including the new dedicated node. For more information, see Deploy a Coordination Service Ensemble.

Run the following command to dedicate this node to only doing flow related operations. For more information on node roles, see Node Roles in Tableau Server.

Get the nodeID for your dedicated node to see the list of services on each node:

tsm topology list-nodes -v.

Set the node role for the dedicated node using the nodeID that you got from running the command described above:

tsm topology set-node-role -n <nodeID> -r flows.

Apply the changes and restart the server:

tsm pending-changes apply.

Review the status to ensure that all the processes are up and running and configured correctly:

tsm status -v.

At this stage, you may have Tableau Prep Conductor enabled on other nodes. By default, the Backgrounder process on a node performs all tasks of all types including flow tasks. To isolate Tableau Prep Conductor and flow tasks to only certain nodes, you can configure the Backgrounders to do one of the following:

The Data Management Add-on for Core-Based licenses includes product keys that enable Tableau Prep Conductor for your Tableau Server, and Tableau Prep Conductor cores that comes in units of four. The Tableau Prep Conductor cores should be applied to the node dedicated to running the flows. These product keys, like your other server keys, are available through the Customer Portal.

On the Register page, enter your information into the fields and click Register.

You will be prompted to restart the server. Restart the server and verify that Tableau Prep Conductor is enabled and is running.

In the Tableau Services Manager web interface, click the Status tab to see the status. If Tableau Prep Conductor is enabled and running, you should see Tableau Prep Conductor in the list of processes as Active. If Tableau Prep Conductor is not enabled, you will see Tableau Prep Conductor in the list of processes, but with no status information.

Tableau Prep Conductor not enabled:

Tableau Prep Conductor enabled and running:

Add a second node to your Tableau Server installation. The installer will enable certain required processes like the Cluster Controller. Enable Backgrounder process on it as it is required to run scheduled flow tasks. When you enable the Backgrounder process, the installer automatically enables a single instance of Data Engine and Tableau Prep Conductor on the node. Do not add any other processes on this node.

Important: The number of physical cores on this machine must be equal to, or less than the Tableau Prep Conductor cores you purchased. For example, if you purchased four Tableau Prep Conductor cores, your node can only have up to four physical cores. To understand about how Tableau Prep Conductor licensing works, see Licensing Tableau Prep Conductor for Tableau Server.

Run the following commands to dedicate this node to only doing flow tasks. For more information on node roles, see Node Roles in Tableau Server.

Get the nodeID for your dedicated node to see the list of services on each node:

tsm topology list-nodes -v.

Set the node role for the dedicated node using the nodeID that you got from running the command described above:

tsm topology set-node-role -n <nodeID> -r flows.

Apply the changes and restart the server: tsm pending-changes apply.

Review the status to ensure that all the processes are up and running and configured correctly:

On the Register page, enter your information into the fields and click Register.

You will be prompted to restart the server. Restart the server and verify that Tableau Prep Conductor is enabled and is running.

In the Tableau Services Manager web interface, click the Status tab to see the status. If Tableau Prep Conductor is enabled and running, you should see Tableau Prep Conductor in the list of processes as Active. If Tableau Prep Conductor is not enabled, you will see Tableau Prep Conductor in the list of processes, but with no status information.

Tableau Prep Conductor not enabled:

Tableau Prep Conductor enabled and running:

Add a new node to your Tableau Server installation. A dedicated node to run flow related operations is recommended for production Tableau Server installations. The installer will enable certain required processes like the Cluster Controller. Enable Backgrounder process on it as it is required to run scheduled flow tasks. When you enable the Backgrounder process, the installer automatically enables a single instance of Data Engine on the node. Do not add any other processes on this node.

Note: The dedicated note counts towards to total count of the Coordination Service ensemble. You may need to deploy a Coordination Service on the new node depending on the total number of nodes you have in your cluster including the new dedicated node. For more information, see Deploy a Coordination Service Ensemble.

Important:The number of physical cores on this machine must be equal to, or less than the Tableau Prep Conductor cores you purchased. For example, if you purchased four Tableau Prep Conductor cores, your node can only have up to four physical cores. To understand about how Tableau Prep Conductor licensing works, see Licensing Tableau Prep Conductor for Tableau Server.

Run the following commands to dedicate this node to only doing flow tasks. This will enable Tableau Prep Conductor on your new node. For more information, see Node Roles in Tableau Server.

Get the nodeID for your dedicated node to see the list of services on each node:

tsm topology list-nodes -v.

Set the node role for the dedicated node using the nodeID that you got from running the command described above:

tsm topology set-node-role -n nodeID -r flows.

Apply the changes and restart the server:

tsm pending-changes apply.

Review the status to ensure that all the processes are up and running and configured correctly:

tsm status -v.

At this stage, you may have Tableau Prep Conductor enabled on other nodes that have the Backgrounder process. By default, the Backgrounder process on a node performs all tasks of all types including flow tasks. To isolate Tableau Prep Conductor and flow operations to only certain nodes, you can configure the backgrounders to do one of the following: